Thoughts on this mdl.90

Yesterday a friend gave me a call. He's been having a rough time this year - lost his job because of the virus, his dog died and his daughter was diagnosed with cancer. He said he had his dad's old .22 and wondered if I could give him an idea of what it was worth, because he really needed some cash. When I got to his house he rummaged around in a closet and came out with this all original Winchester mdl. 90 (dates to 1931). He didn't think it had been shot in at least 40 years.

It definitely shows its age and the effects of being ignored for several decades - surface rust and minor pitting, loss of bluing, dry wood, missing the mainspring screw, etc. However, the inside workings and bore are very good. Long story short, I made him a rather generous offer and it came home with me. I did promise him that I would never sell it, and that my son would get it when I'm dead and gone.

Now the question is what to do with it. Normally I would simply give it some love and enjoy the heck out of it. I am also considering doing a full restoration on it because, unfortunately, his dad vibro-etched his DL number on the side of the barrel. This kills any collector value in my mind's eye, and I think it would be beautiful rust blued with the wood freshened up. The engraving is pretty shallow and I should be able to block sand it out.

So, if this was yours, what would you do? I welcome all your thoughts!

Well the bore does look good and I still need to shoot it, but thank you for that relining link. I may want to do it after I function test it.
I'm tempted to give it a boiling water bath to see if the rust will convert to at least a gray color.